Blake is basically ahead of Bolt's pace

[Rudi]

Shhh I was trying to mek a point. No need to call me out like that. Truth be told more than once.

[Skeng DX]

blake

I'm also very excited about Gay's comeback. If he can do this off a single season of training, he will either be in solid 9.7's next year, or sustain a career-ending injury, one or the other.

And about Blake and his so-called "perfect race"...while that may in fact have been the "perfect race" for the August 2012 Blake, the August 2013 Blake is likely to be a different person, same as the August 2012 Blake was a different person than the August 2011 Blake.

It is obvious that Blake is still developing. Not only are his times dropping dramatically--.12 in the past year, from an adjusted 9.82 to 9.70--he is also undergoing visible physical changes.

If he continues to develop, and runs another perfect race, it will be faster than 9.70 Given his recent trajectory, I cannot see any good reason to believe that he will NOT continue to develop.

As far as Gay goes, I will re-iterate what I have said before: his deficiency is that he cannot put sufficient force to the ground, in the direction opposite the direction in which he is running, and that is why his start/early acceleration will never be as good as the best, like Powell and Gatlin. What Gay does exceedingly well is apply force smoothly during the swinging of his limbs, to generate high limb velocity, and then subsequently turn it off smoothly and have a brief period of relaxation, all of which is great when running at speed, as the only force that has to be applied to the track is in the downward direction to keep you a consistent height above the track, and in the backward direction to overcome the retarding force of air friction. The rest of the force is used to overcome friction in the body, and to accelerate the limbs.

That is why I have said that Gay windmills at the start--he exhibits greater limb motion, both range and speed of limbs, relative to the acceleration he achieves, than do many other 100m guys, especially the good accelerators like Gatlin, Powell, Kimmons, etc. He is not economical at the start, at all. When he tries to be, he still runs out, but with longer strides, looking for that feel that is required for his smooth power application, rather than taking quick kicks at the track like Powell, Gatlin, Kimmons, Carter, Collins, and even Bolt. The longer strides enable a slightly longer contact time, which gives him the added milliseconds he needs to feel the ground and develop that force when he is in contact with it.

It's not that Gay's start/early acceleration suck on an absolute basis, they are in fact quite good...however it isn't competitive with the very best, at their very best.

Can Gay change his start/accel for the better? If he simply practices a different mechanic enough, will his neurology and timing respond in kind, following the mechanic? I don't know, and whether he should even attempt it is a tough call, given the fact that he is 9.8x this year, and likely to be 9.7x next year, with his current start.

BTW, it is incredible that we are even talking about a 9.7/9.8 guy having any sort of "deficiency" that needs to be overcome.

Also, an earlier poster suggested that Blake might want to lengthen his stride at top speed. Blake actually has a decent stride length at speed, the same as Gay, using what are probably slightly shorter legs, meaning that he has a more powerful stride. We have seen guys "stride it out" over the years in the end phase of some great 100m sprints. Bolt has done it, Lewis has done it, and I think that even Blake has done it--when it looks like they have almost completely relaxed, and are just letting the speed "flow" over the last 15 or 20m.

At that point it is all about NOT decelerating. Your cycling is dying, your timing is not as good, the question is what to do about it. By "striding it out", you can actually decrease the stride rate for the same forward speed, since you are using a longer stride--the critical question is how long you can keep this up before your footplant on the lengthened stride will begin to retard your forward motion. IMHO this CAN be done, but only for a few strides. Given a stride length of 2.5-3.0m, if held for 15m, this would be 5-6 strides, which is about right in my experience. After that I think 2 things happen: first, the progressive fatigue starts to limit even your decreased stride and cycling rate, and second, you get lazy rather than just relaxed. The relaxation phase when "striding it out" should be viewed as a transition phase, that is followed by shutdown. It will be a decelerating phase, but minimizing the deceleration that occurs over that 5-6 strides.

I have commented that Blake looked a bit tight at the end of this race. When I said that, I meant tight in reference to how I have seen him look before, when the speed seemed to be just "flowing". So I guess I agree with the poster, that he might want to relax more at the end and lengthen his stride just a bit.

It must be said that the other way you can avoid deceleration is drugs. Not only do they maintain your muscular ability to cycle effectively, there is suggestion that they can change your neurology. Whether such a change is a direct effect of a particular PED, or a secondary effect in response to muscular changes, is not particularly relevant--the upshot is that drugs undeniably help in this phase, as Francis repeated ad nauseum. Whether they help by aiding the start/acceleration and preserving resources for the last 20m, or whether they help the last 20m directly, is relevant to what type of sprinter will benefit the most. Like I have said, I think that power sprinters will benefit the most, and history appears to bear out that belief.

Another point from another poster: the Lausanne meet. Before this 9.69, I questioned the timing in view of Powell's 9.72, which was also realized immediately following an Olympic Games. There was also Fredericks' incredible 9.86 (-0.4), run 3 weeks before the 1996 Games. To be sure, Lausanne is not Eugene, Clermont, or Rieti. The other athletes in this race posted times that were reasonable, so it looks like this was a legit 9.69, and makes Powell's 9.72 look legit as well.

I have been to that track more than once. I love the facility, I love the whole area. It is beautiful, and yes, at a bit of elevation. I guess I believe the times now.

Also, as far as Blake and Powell go at Lausanne, 3 possibilities come to mind: first, that they are better at one-off's than they are at rounds; second, that they perform much better when relieved of pressure; third, that they compete better later in the evening than earlier in the day.

So, since I called Blake 2 years ago, IIRC, as the next 9.7x guy, who will be next? Yes, I know that Gatlin ran a real 9.79 this year. Top contenders, assuming things continue as they have this year, have to include R. Bailey, Ashmeade, and Bledman. If other guys catch on to the Jamaican system, anybody could do it--Dix, Lemaitre, Martina, Rodgers, Kimmons, any of the low-9.9x guys, really. Put Gemili in the mix at high-9.8x/low 9.9x next year, if he figures it out.

Ultimately, 9.69, by the likes of Yohan Blake? .17 faster than Lewis and Fredericks? .15 faster than Bailey and Surin? Basically .10 faster than Gay? Faster than Powell? .10 faster than Greene and Johnson? I don't know exactly why, I just have a difficult time believing that Blake is intrinsically exceptional, which is what it would take to be faster than those other guys. Not only that, but he is beginning to pile up these insane times, like Greene did in the 9.80-range. Why do I have difficulty believing it? Many reasons, already gone through on this board.

For now, we wait...for the 200m in Brussels. I hope that the conditions will be perfect. Even though Bolt was the best thing to have happened to t&f over the past few years as far as the casual fan was concerned, he was a disaster for the other athletes concerned, both in terms of time and money. Blake, OTOH, especially if he breaks one of Bolt's records, will be the very best thing ever to happen to t&f, not only for the fans who will now have a legitimate competition to watch for top spot, but also for the athletes, who now have a leader to emulate in the hunt for Bolt. Blake has opened the door for everybody else, in a sense. Because Blake will never be busted (because if he is, Bolt will go down), he might have an advantage over other athletes who are not in his unique position--but look for guys from other places, not too far away, to follow his lead. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Look for Ashmeade and other Jamaicans first. And remember the cross-pollination between Jamaica and the USA, so look for the Americans second.

Blake has opened the door, all that remains is for the relevant authorities to give other athletes the effective green light to walk through it.

And Dick Pound is yesterday's news. This is a new era, regardless of the corruption and collusion, it is a fact. Yohan Blake 9.69 (-0.1) is a fact, as was his 19.26

Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_re...#ixzz24V7BagEd

[Don1]

LOL

[Islandman]

Interesting the way this person writes. Refers to drug use almost casually, explains how it helps some more than others. The person who comes to mind of course is Ben Johnson.

Seems that he suspects the Jamaicans of doping (which non Jamaican doesnt really) but still seems to be impressed with them, i guess since everybody more or less is doing it.

[Skeng DX]

"suspicions" aside him know him stuff

[Islandman]

It sound so, but me not enough of an expert in sprinting to tell for sure.Lol.

[Gamma]

USADA sacrifice lance armstrong to cast aspersions on bolt!

[Lee]

Ato definitely got his prowess on the track from his mother,whom BTW is Jamaican.

[Willi]

typical yankee dem a drop accusations and a try bigup dem own. Yawn!